Building Israel

According to the JTA, “Israel announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.”

According to the NYTimes, “Israel announced plans on Sunday to build hundreds of new homes in an area of the occupied West Bank the Israeli government considers part of Jerusalem, despite U.S. and Palestinian calls to halt settlement expansion.”

According to the BBC, “The Israeli government has announced plans to build nearly 900 new housing units in a part of East Jerusalem that is considered occupied territory.”

I look at the story, knowing where Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa are, and question the Israeli government’s slant that these housing projects are meant to “bolster” Jerusalem. Bolster is only the right word to use here, if they mean “build up Jewish settlements in Palestinian land so that if/when a two state solution is realised, all of this area will be considered Jewish and/or “greater Jerusalem” and will stay with Israel, not Palestine.”

Time and again, Israel has agreed to cease new settlements, stop building up existing ones. And yet they continue to do it anyway.